A Particular Address

At no. 19 is the Museum of Immigration and Diversity.

It’s rarely open to the public due to its fragility, but I recently went to an open day for a look inside the time capsule.

The story of Princelet Street and Spitalfields in general is one of immigration. From Huguenots to Irish and Jews to Bengalis, waves of people have made the street their home and left traces of their lives here.

The earliest houses on Princelet Street appeared in 1700 and Number 19 was built in 1719, first home to a Huguenot silk merchant Peter Abraham Ogier.

Other poor weaver families succeeded the Ogiers then later it was home to Irish and Polish immigrants. But the family home changed drastically in 1869, when the back garden was built over and the East End’s first purpose built synagogue installed for the growing Jewish population.

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It was Polish Jews that bought the lease for the house and with hard-earned financial contributions from the local community, the synagogue opened in 1870.

It was in use until the 1970s but is now looked after by the Spitalfields Centre charity, a Grade II* listed building that’s on English Heritage’s ‘Buildings at Risk’ register.

Israel Sangwill – the eminient 20th century Jewish writer – paints a vivid picture of the lively atmosphere when in its prime;

“The worshippers dropped in, mostly in their workaday garments and grime, and rumbled and roared and chorused the prayers with zeal which shook the windowpanes.”

As well as the museum’s main exhibit: the building itself, there are two installations – Suitcases and Sanctuary created by local primary school groups who contemplate immigration, identity and belonging; and Leave to Remain by 3 refugee artists taking a wry look at the issue of Asylum in Britain today.

Downstairs, below the synagogue, a basement was created: community space which, in the 1930s, hosted antifascist meetings including those planning the famous ‘Battle of Cable Street’ against Oswald Moseley’s blackshirts.

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